An Ohio attorney at the forefront of the national COVID-19 debate says President Joe Biden’s proposal to shift power to the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare viral pandemics is a legal ploy to circumvent the United States Constitution.
“I think that’s absolutely what this is. This isn’t as simple as giving up our sovereignty. This is a very complex legal move,” said Attorney Thomas Renz in an interview with The Epoch Times.
“This is horrendous. To even propose something like this is mindblowing,” Renz said.
Renz is the lead attorney in several significant cases brought in Ohio, New Mexico, Maine, and nationally, regarding forced COVID-19 vaccines, illegal lockdowns, big-tech censorship, questionable death numbers, and other pandemic-related issues.
He currently represents America’s Frontline Doctors and Make Americans Free Again, organizations that oppose unconstitutional federal health mandates.
Renz recently began speaking out against Biden’s 13 proposed amendments to the UN’s International Health Regulations (IHR) that govern WHO operations.
Such a move, he said, would give the WHO power to declare public health emergencies in the United States, using whatever evidence it wants.
The IHR changes, if adopted, would grant broad authority to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, a former Ethiopian government minister who has been in the role since 2017.
It’s “more than a little suspect,” Renz said, noting that any treaty ratified by Congress has roughly the same statutory weight as federal law.
“Federal law has more authority than state law. If there’s a dispute between federal law and state law, federal law wins,” he said.
“A treaty, if ratified, generally would trump state law. In terms of the U.S., that’s how it works. The question is not whether the WHO can do this, but what kind of an impact [will it have], how does it affect the U.S.—those sorts of things.
“To that extent, it could have indirect authority.”
Opposition Builds
This week, opposition from African delegates to the 75th World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva, Switzerland, has prompted continued discussions over Biden’s proposed amendments.
Under the U.S. Constitution, Renz said Biden could use his executive authority to transfer power to the WHO in public health emergencies, sparking constitutional challenges.
“The Constitution trumps any treaty—period,” Renz said. “If there’s a dispute between the Constitution and any other law—including a treaty—the Constitution always wins.”
The WHO’s primary role is to provide input in public health matters, but it does not have the legal authority to direct health policy at the national level.
However, the IHR amendments could change all that.
“They are proposing to have more authority to do things within a nation,” Renz said. “Does that mean the nation loses its sovereignty? No. The WHO couldn’t come into the United States and do anything the United States couldn’t do constitutionally because the Constitution would be the line in the sand in terms of what they can and cannot do.”
By Allan Stein
